Winning Ways
by Lys ap Adin
Summary: With Xanxus, it's always two steps forward and one step back. Follows Winning Streak. Adult for smut. Shades of D/s as Tsuna and Xanxus continue to negotiate their Issues. 6283 words.


**Title:** Winning Ways  
**Characters/Pairings:** Tsuna/Xanxus; Yamamoto, Gokudera  
**Summary:** With Xanxus, it's always two steps forward and one step back.  
**Notes:** Adult for smut. Shades of D/s as Tsuna and Xanxus continue to negotiate their Issues. Follows Winning Streak. 6283 words.

* * *

**Winning Ways**

Predictably enough, Takeshi was the first one to say anything about it. Tsuna suspected that Hayato was the one who was more worried, but Takeshi was the one who tended to have the temerity to bring up the things Hayato's sense of propriety forbade him to broach with his boss.

"Been taking a lot of private meetings with Xanxus lately." Takeshi was slung into one of the chairs across from Tsuna's desk, one long leg hooked over an arm. His tone was as casual as his posture and he was rubbing his chin like it was just another random observation, apropos of nothing, but Tsuna had known him for far too long to trust that amiably artless tone.

He met Takeshi's eyes squarely. "We've had things to discuss."

Takeshi's mouth kicked up at the corners. "Yeah? How's that working out for you?" Despite the smile, his eyes were serious, even grave.

Tsuna sifted through possible responses, seeking one that would reassure his Rain without betraying Xanxus' privacy. "Slowly," he said. "It's… slowly. Xanxus and I have a great many things to work through with respect to one another."

"Well. Xanxus." Takeshi rubbed his chin again, offering up that pronouncement like it explained everything. Perhaps it did. "Squalo did say he's been like a bear with a sore paw lately."

Tsuna gave Takeshi his full attention, worried by this new intelligence. Takeshi spent a fair bit of time with the Varia for reasons of his own; when he had something to say about their inner workings, it always paid to listen. "Is he?" He hadn't seen Xanxus since after the Cetrulli mission; he'd assumed that was because Xanxus was assimilating how explicitly Tsuna had claimed him, but—

Takeshi shrugged. "Well, normally Squalo says he's like a _rabid_ bear with a sore paw, so I guess those discussions of yours must be going all right." He smiled at Tsuna then, open and affectionate. "No surprises there, right?"

Tsuna reflected once again that he wasn't ever going to understand how Squalo's mind worked—the man freely admitted that his boss was probably insane and was certainly insanely dangerous, and professed to _like it_ that way. But then, Squalo wasn't entirely sane himself, except by comparison. Maybe that was why it worked.

"I hope so," he said. "I really do hope so."

"Figure it will," Yamamoto said, comfortable. "In the long run." Apparently satisfied, he gathered himself up from his sprawl and added, "I better get going on the Frentani stuff. They won't do the negotiating for us."

"Thank you," Tsuna told him, grateful for both the check-in and the reassurance.

Takeshi just grinned at him. "Any time, Boss," he said. "Any time."

* * *

Hayato argued that the Varia were like cats—"Crazy, self-absorbed, and prone to getting into things you don't want them to," in his words, though Tsuna wasn't sure how that set the Varia apart from any other segment of the Vongola. That comparison returned to him when he came back to his office one afternoon and found that Xanxus had gotten into it during his absence without anyone else the wiser. He was leaning against Tsuna's desk, arms folded across his chest and a scowl darkening his face.

Tsuna flipped the lock on the door behind himself as Xanxus looked up. They regarded each other in silence before Tsuna nodded his head. "Hello, my own."

That prodded Xanxus into finally responding, as Tsuna had expected it would. He moved, unfolding his arms and making a restless movement with them, as though he wasn't sure what he wanted to do after all, go for his guns or his Flame, and he glared. "Don't call me that."

Tsuna stepped on the urge to sigh; he'd expected that Xanxus would probably return them to this point. He raised his eyebrows and didn't come away from the door, not yet. "Why not? It's true, isn't it?"

Xanxus' hands flexed at his side, curling into fists. "No." It grated out of him, harsh as stone grinding against stone. "It's not."

He still wasn't moving and he left his denial at that, flat repudiation of Tsuna's claim, almost like a challenge. No, Tsuna thought, studying the angle of Xanxus' chin, exactly like a challenge.

It was a good thing he'd already accepted the fact that this thing of theirs was not going to be easy _or_ swift. Tsuna took a breath and stepped into his Will, wrapping the sureness of it around himself like a cloak. When Xanxus moved—started to move—he said, "Stay where you are."

Perhaps they were both surprised when Xanxus did, remaining propped against the desk as Tsuna crossed the distance from the door and stepped between the chairs, right into Xanxus' personal space. "What are you—" Xanxus stopped, his eyes dark, as Tsuna laid his hands against the crispness of his shirt and spread them against his chest.

Or maybe not so much a challenge as a request, Tsuna thought, looking up at Xanxus as his Flame lent clarity to the things he could see moving in Xanxus' eyes. A request disguised as defiance, because to request was to admit to wanting, and to want was to be vulnerable. "You know that it _is_ true," he said, holding Xanxus' eyes with his own. "Have you forgotten already?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Xanxus' voice had dropped, though, and he still wasn't moving.

Tsuna didn't sigh, though a part of him wanted to. If this was the way Xanxus needed to ask, it would do for now. For the beginning. "Let me remind you." He let his Will burn higher and reached out with it, laying the weight of it against Xanxus' heart, blatant and unequivocal in his intent.

Xanxus swore, his voice dropping even lower, and reached down, gripping the edge of Tsuna's desk. "Fuck," he said, and reached for his own Flame, pushing back against Tsuna's move to encircle his heart. "You can't—"

"I think I can. I think I _am_." Tsuna pressed harder, standing firm against Xanxus' resistance, sluggish and belated and nearly transparent as a pane of glass. Part of him ached that Xanxus felt he had to resort to this, but he ignored that and took a deep breath before he _pushed_, sweeping the pretense at keeping him shut out aside. He closed his Flame on Xanxus' heart and held it. "You are my own," he said, careful of the broken, scarred places and the way Xanxus gasped. "I have not forgotten. I will not change my mind. And I will do this as many times as it takes for you to remember. I promise."

Xanxus' expression changed several times, almost too fast for Tsuna to track, but by the time he reached the end of that, Xanxus was simply staring down at him, something confused and _hungry_ in his eyes. He opened his mouth but several seconds slipped by before he said, hoarse, "Bullshit."

This time Tsuna did sigh. "Truth," he said, tightening his hold on Xanxus and feeling the quick rise and fall of Xanxus' chest beneath his palms. Something moved in Xanxus' eyes at that, and Tsuna's intuition prodded at him. "Only the truth," he said, softer, feeling his way through the words carefully, because they had to be the right ones. "There is nothing I will hold back from you. Nothing I will hide from you. Not ever."

The look in Xanxus' eyes shifted again, sharpening into something like yearning. "Everyone lies eventually."

"I won't," Tsuna promised him. He lifted a hand to touch Xanxus' cheek, curving his palm around it and refusing to be dismayed when Xanxus flinched at first. "I will not lie to you about this. Not ever. You are _mine_ and you deserve the truth."

Beneath his Flame, Xanxus' heart twisted again, yearning towards that promise, that assurance, even as Xanxus laughed, the sound of it hollow, almost mocking. "Yeah. Right."

Tsuna didn't think that laughter was for him, or even his promise. He stroked the ragged edges of Xanxus' heart and the arch of his cheekbone, searching his eyes, and took a breath at what he saw there. "That's easiest, isn't it?" Xanxus frowned at him, but Tsuna pushed on rather than let himself be staved off. "If you can be the first to mock something, then no one can use that thing against you, can they? If you don't let yourself trust, you can't be disappointed. This is what you've learned."

Xanxus didn't flinch, not physically, but his heart shivered under Tsuna's Flame, so wary that it made Tsuna ache. "Hasn't failed me yet."

"I think it has," Tsuna said, certain of it as his Flame showed him how it was. "But not as badly as you've been failed, I think." Loath as he might have been to think it, lessons like that didn't emerge from a vacuum. He wished, briefly, that the Ninth and his people were not beyond his reach, that there was someone he could demand answers from, but they were all beyond that reckoning now.

Which left him with the man standing so still before him, desperate for the things Tsuna wanted to give him and so broken he didn't dare believe he could have them.

"I promise you," Tsuna said, finally, letting his Will ring in his voice and his sureness burn through his Flame. Xanxus made a sound, hoarse and uncertain, and Tsuna took his face in his hands. "You are mine. I want you, every part of you, and I will hold you always. In return I will give you the truth, even when the truth is hard, because that is what you deserve." He stroked his thumbs over the arch of Xanxus' cheekbones, meeting his wild, uncertain stare, and said, "Deal?"

Xanxus' nod was fractional, barely perceptible, but Tsuna felt the shift and dip of his chin between his palms and couldn't help the surge of his satisfaction or the way it sang through his Flame. When he saw the way that made Xanxus' eyes go wider, just the tiniest signal that he couldn't believe that Tsuna would be pleased by such a thing, Tsuna couldn't regret it, either. "Yes," he said, smoothing his thumbs back and forth, because that made as good a place to begin as any. "My own."

Xanxus offered very little resistance when Tsuna drew him down and kissed him; he was very still beneath Tsuna's mouth, uncertain, so Tsuna held him carefully and took his time to kiss him slowly. Xanxus' heart shivered beneath his touch and perhaps, just perhaps, relaxed a bit. Tsuna smiled up at him when he drew back from his mouth, and hoped that Xanxus would take it for the hopeful gesture that it was. "So now that we have that sorted, was there something you wanted?" he asked, keeping the question matter-of-fact as he eased his grip on Xanxus' heart and let his Flame begin to settle.

Had he blinked, he would have missed the moment of Xanxus' disorientation. "What—" he began. Then he stiffened, drawing himself up, shutters rolling down over his expression.

"Or maybe that _was_ what you wanted to discuss," Tsuna guessed, studying him. He tipped his head to the side as another thought occurred to him. "Did you get what you came here for?"

Xanxus moved, restive, and would almost certainly have looked aside if Tsuna hadn't still been cradling his face in his hands. "Didn't come here for anything at all."

"I think that may not be true." Tsuna watched him, holding his heart lightly now. "Not entirely. My own, tell me. What else did you want when you came here?"

Though of course that wasn't the right tack to take—Xanxus would scarcely _give_ him a weapon like that, not of his own volition. He pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"There is something," Tsuna pressed, his intuition creeping. He touched Xanxus' heart again, though sifting out one particular need from the tangled mess of Xanxus' desires and aching sense of need was difficult. Xanxus flinched away from his touch, turned his face in Tsuna's hands, and his body went rigid. Tsuna sighed. "Please, my own. Tell me. If I can give it to you, I will."

Xanxus gritted his teeth together. "You don't want to."

"You can't say that before you've even told me what it is."

It seemed perfectly logical to him, but only made the muscles in Xanxus' jaw ripple as he clenched his teeth more tightly. "If you wanted to, we'd already be doing it."

The ripple that ran through Xanxus' heart was so subtle that Tsuna barely recognized it, but—he bit his lip, annoyed with himself. "I see." He dropped his hands to Xanxus' shoulders. "Forgive me, I should have thought of that. It's less complicated that way, isn't it?" Pure physicality would almost have to be, for Xanxus, since it was so much more difficult to lie with the body and its reactions.

Xanxus didn't say anything to that at all, not that it surprised Tsuna—he'd done well to get as much from him as he already had. He stroked Xanxus' shoulders, following the breadth of them and watching for the tiny cues of Xanxus' reaction—the ripple of the muscles in his jaw, the resolute way he refused to meet Tsuna's eyes, and the flex of his hands against Tsuna's desk. (How strange and marvelous that Xanxus had not once made to push him away throughout this conversation—how encouraging.) "Sex isn't the first way I normally try to talk with my people, but you and I, we've never been normal, have we?" Xanxus still wasn't looking at him, so Tsuna carried on, looking for some way to reach him. "I think about you sometimes, you know. It can be very distracting." He smiled, though he wasn't sure whether Xanxus was looking at him enough to see it. "I'll be sitting here at my desk and I'll think about you and the things we've done together and then I'll lose track of whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing. I'm starting to think I may have to get rid of that couch, just to get rid of the associations I have with it."

He ran his hands over Xanxus' shoulders as he talked, following the smooth muscle of them down Xanxus' arms, feeling how tight they were beneath the crisp fabric of his shirt. Some of that tightness began to ease in slow increments as he kept talking. "It's the most ridiculous thing, you know? It's almost like being a teenager again, really." He stroked his hands along Xanxus' shoulders again and rested his fingers against the side of Xanxus' throat, touching the skin there. "Would you like to know one of the things I think about?" He paused, hoping that Xanxus might say something, either encouragement to go on or complaint, but Xanxus didn't say anything at all. He didn't try to stop him, either, which was better than nothing. "I think about that first time, when you fucked me, and how good that felt."

Finally, a reaction: Xanxus moved beneath his hands, made a sound like a half-choked protest. He looked at Tsuna, one swift, startled glance before he jerked his eyes away again, but that was enough.

"It was good." Tsuna rubbed his thumb against the hollow of Xanxus' throat, feeling the pulse that beat there. "I liked it very much, you know." He watched Xanxus, thinking about that first encounter. "I don't suppose you meant me to, not that time or the time after that. It was supposed to be just one more way of fighting me, wasn't it?"

Xanxus shifted, restless beneath his hands, face still averted. "Jesus, you talk too fucking much."

"Sometimes I have to, to make sure that I'm being understood." Tsuna slid his fingers up and touched the line of Xanxus' jaw and the full, sensual line of his mouth. "It doesn't have to be a fight, you know. Or a weapon to hurt me with. Or a weapon to hurt yourself on." He shouldn't have to say such a thing, but it was Xanxus and Tsuna had to wonder whether sex had ever been something that was about pleasure for him. "But anyway. Would you like to know something else I think about?"

Xanxus grunted; he sounded absolutely exasperated, but he didn't stop Tsuna, either, and that was delightful.

"I think about what it would be like to have you fuck me again," he said; Xanxus jerked his face around again, almost immediately, and stared at him. Tsuna smiled at the look in his eyes. "I think about how I liked having you inside me and how good it would be to feel that again." He paused before adding, "Do you think you might like to do that right now?"

He honestly didn't know which was worse, that he was having to coax Xanxus like this, or that Xanxus looked so honestly confused by his efforts. He was staring outright now, looking utterly perplexed, and Tsuna was on the verge of trying something else to see whether it would work better when Xanxus said, "You… honestly want that?"

Xanxus had a knack for asking him the kinds of questions that hurt to hear. Tsuna took a deep breath and nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Though it was anyone's guess whether Xanxus might understand a question like that.

Xanxus continued to frown at him, his eyebrows knitted together. Tsuna thought he might have been on the verge of asking _Are you sure?_ or something similar to that, but in the end he didn't, maybe because the promise of truth had stuck with him at least this long or maybe because he was too proud for it. Instead he reached for Tsuna and set one of his hands against Tsuna's back, pulling him closer. Tsuna made a pleased sound, agreeing, and let the weight of Xanxus' hand pull him forward and press him against Xanxus' chest. He smiled as Xanxus looked down at him, encouraging, and slipped his arms around Xanxus' neck. Xanxus still looked as though he didn't know what to think of this when he bent down to kiss Tsuna. The way his mouth felt reflected that; he moved it against Tsuna's slowly, perhaps even tentatively, as though he expected Tsuna to change his mind and pull away any second now.

One thing at a time, Tsuna supposed. He opened his mouth to Xanxus', inviting him in, and wrapped his arms around Xanxus' shoulders, since they were so pleasingly solid. Perhaps Xanxus could feel the thread of his satisfaction the Flame still resting against his heart, or maybe the fact that Tsuna hadn't pulled away yet encouraged him, but he pressed Tsuna closer and took advantage of his parted lips. Tsuna hummed when Xanxus stroked their tongues together and watched Xanxus from beneath his lashes. Xanxus was still staring at him, dark with suspicion, but some of the tension was beginning to seep out of his shoulders as they went on, Tsuna offering and refusing to retreat from each additional incremental step Xanxus took.

They were both breathing faster and Tsuna's lips felt tender by the time Xanxus seemed to decide that he'd meant at least some of his offer. He broke away from Tsuna, his own mouth red and wet, and looked at him for a moment that stretched out long and silent. Tsuna let him look, playing with the hair that hung over Xanxus' collar, just long enough to wind around his fingers, until Xanxus came to whatever decision he'd been wrestling with and nodded, the barest jerk of his chin as he pulled Tsuna up tight against him.

Tsuna suspected that it was a sign that he'd been consorting with the wrong sort of company for too long when that casual display of strength made something hot curl in the pit of his stomach. He smiled at Xanxus and wrapped a hand around his nape, leaning against him and enjoying the hardness of Xanxus' body against his own and knowing that Xanxus had to be able to feel his response to it.

He hadn't quite expected Xanxus to comment on that, but Xanxus did, holding Tsuna in place against him and looking the tiniest bit puzzled. "You honestly do like this."

"Why shouldn't I?" He wasn't sure he wanted Xanxus to answer that, precisely, so he settled his free hand against Xanxus' chest and began undoing his buttons. "You're my own, and besides that, I like how strong you are. I like feeling that." Liked thinking about having that strength turned to very specific sorts of ends, too, if he were honest, liked knowing that strength was his, but perhaps that was better left unsaid while Xanxus was still feeling his way into this. He watched Xanxus carefully as he slid a hand under the edge of his shirt and touched the skin along his collarbones. "Do you think that I shouldn't?"

Xanxus only looked more confused by that, which was almost certainly why he fit a thigh between Tsuna's and pulled him tight against him, firmly enough that Tsuna groaned with the pressure against his cock and the feeling of Xanxus' own erection rubbing against his hip, and was all too ready to let Xanxus crush their mouths together again. Xanxus ran his hands up Tsuna's back, the feel of them large and heavy even through the layers of his suit jacket. It took Tsuna a moment to realize that Xanxus was trying to get him out of it. "Wait," Tsuna said against his mouth, and unknotted his hand from Xanxus' shirt. He dug the small packet of items he'd taken to carrying in the inside breast pocket from its resting spot and dropped it on the desk behind Xanxus, and then smiled at him. "Okay," he said, perfectly ready to shrug out of his jacket now.

"What…?" Xanxus asked as Tsuna wriggled his arms free and tossed his jacket over the desk to land in his chair.

"Supplies," Tsuna explained. He never quite knew when or where he might get ambushed these days, and his desk drawer wasn't always convenient. When Xanxus still looked blank, he clarified. "Condoms and lube."

The look Xanxus gave him then was filled with disbelief. "You're joking."

It was on the tip of his tongue to say something flippant, but Tsuna stopped himself, warned by the faintest tremor of his intuition. "No," he said, studying Xanxus. "No, after the last time we did something like this, I wanted to be sure I would be ready for another encounter, no matter where or when it happened." He watched Xanxus and the tiny ripple that passed over his expression and added, "Even Kyouya tends to be more predictable than you, my own."

Xanxus' blink was his only reaction. Tsuna waited; when Xanxus didn't seem inclined to pursue that, he shrugged and raised himself up against Xanxus, sighing with the friction as that rubbed their bodies together, and kissed him again, slowly, tasting his mouth and stroking his tongue over the fullness of his lower lip until Xanxus began to react again, closing his hands against Tsuna's back and shifting his hips against Tsuna's. That felt good; Tsuna hummed against Xanxus' mouth when that made heat twist through him, and listened to the low sounds Xanxus made, quiet and barely voiced, even as his breath turned faster and his hands tightened against Tsuna's back.

He didn't press for more, curiously, which was more than a little strange. He'd pushed every other encounter, trying to take whatever control he could grasp from Tsuna. It seemed odd that he wasn't pushing now, wasn't driving for more, and even the rising haze of his own pleasure couldn't distract Tsuna from that strangeness. "Is there something else you'd rather have than this?" he asked, hearing his own voice gone breathless and husky and shuddering as he pressed himself against Xanxus' thigh. "I'm willing to do something else, if you'd rather."

The sound Xanxus made then was so quiet Tsuna barely heard the tiny, frustrated snarl of it. "Make up your mind."

Tsuna squinted at him, because that _sounded_ like one thing, but felt like another altogether. "I already have, far as it matters to me."

Xanxus gave him a look that was full of exasperation. "Make up your mind what you want to _do_."

"That doesn't matter to me," Tsuna started, watching him closely enough to catch the flicker in Xanxus' eyes. "But it matters to you," he carried on, more slowly, fixing his eyes on Xanxus' as he pursued that bit of insight. "You want me to choose, don't you? For the both of us."

Xanxus didn't say anything at all, though his eyes flickered, briefly—its own kind of answer. Tsuna took a breath, thinking of how Xanxus had pushed him each time, pushed him until he'd stepped in and established that they would be proceeding _Tsuna's_ way, and let it out slowly. And now, here he was, trying to get Xanxus to lead according to his own tastes. "I see," he said, quiet. "If that's what you need, my own." He reached up, closing his hand on Xanxus' nape again, and pulled him down for another kiss, open and sure, before he said, "Help me undress."

Perhaps one day they would be able to do this without worrying about the way they stood in relation to each other. Or perhaps not: Xanxus was making quick work of Tsuna's tie and shirt, more readily that Tsuna would have expected him to. He laid them aside, draped over a stack of files Tsuna had meant to be reviewing just about now, and paused, hands at Tsuna's sides, just above his waist, until Tsuna nodded at him to go ahead. Xanxus wasn't quite looking at him as he undid Tsuna's belt and fly; his eyes were fixed somewhere in the space between them, or maybe on what he was doing with his hands, as Tsuna toed his shoes off and stepped out of his trousers. It ought to have felt strange to be the one mostly naked when Xanxus still had all his clothes more or less in place, but Tsuna was beginning to be sure that he and Xanxus weren't going to be doing anything normally.

"Wait," he said when Xanxus reached for his boxers, and caught his wrist. His grip was loose enough that it wouldn't have stopped so much as a child, but Xanxus arrested himself immediately, glancing sidelong at Tsuna. "Undress for me first."

And Xanxus did, stripping out of his clothes efficiently, all the way down to his skin. It was just as well that he wasn't inclined to body insecurity, Tsuna mused as he looked Xanxus over, all things considered. He stepped back into Xanxus' space and ran his hands over his chest, which rose and fell beneath his palms as Xanxus inhaled sharply. "My own," he said as he touched Xanxus, exploring the texture of his skin, smooth in the places that weren't scarred, ropy in some places and too smooth in others. Xanxus swallowed when Tsuna ran his hands down and stroked his thumbs over the crest of Xanxus' hips, and groaned outright when he folded his hand around Xanxus' cock. Tsuna fondled the heavy length of him, running his fingers up and down Xanxus' cock slowly and listening to the hoarse sounds Xanxus made when he slid his thumb over his head. "I want you to fuck me," he said, and felt the way Xanxus' cock twitched in his fingers. "You're going to have to get me ready first, though." He waited. When it looked like Xanxus needed a touch more direction than that, he added, "There's lube on the desk behind you."

Xanxus made a strangled sound when Tsuna released him and skimmed out of his boxers, but that gave him a chance to find the little packet of necessities Tsuna had retrieved from his jacket. Tsuna smiled and took one of the packets of lube from his fingers. He tore it open and took Xanxus' hand. "Like this." The gel slid over their fingers easily enough, and he leaned against Xanxus, guiding his hand down, and said nothing at all about the breath Xanxus took.

It was a gamble to offer Xanxus this much freedom with his person, but the first touch of Xanxus' fingers was so careful as to be tentative. Tsuna hummed in appreciation with the first intimate stroke of them and pressed his mouth against Xanxus' throat, mouthing one of the tendons there until he realized that Xanxus was going to take this _very_ slowly without additional direction. "Go ahead," he said. "One at a time."

He groaned when Xanxus obeyed and rested his forehead against Xanxus' shoulder, panting as Xanxus opened him up. The slow, aching stretch of it throbbed through him with each shift of Xanxus' fingers inside him. "There," he breathed as Xanxus hit just the right angle and sensation sparked through him. "Right _there_, yes." He closed his fingers against Xanxus' shoulders, arching as Xanxus took him at his word and _pressed_, just right. "God." He slid his mouth against Xanxus' throat, tasting him, and felt Xanxus shudder against him. When he pulled away, the beginning of a bruise glowed against the side of Xanxus throat. The sight of it curled inside Tsuna's ribcage, warm and satisfying, as he reached for one of the condoms and the remains of the packet of lube.

"Now," he said over the breathless groan that escaped Xanxus as he smoothed the condom down his cock and slicked his fingers over it. "I want you to fuck me." He smiled at the look in Xanxus' eyes, dark and confused and hungry, even as he obediently eased his fingers free of Tsuna. "Like this, I think." He stepped around Xanxus and braced his hands against his desk, leaning over it. When he glanced over his shoulder at Xanxus, the man was very nearly gaping at him. "Come here, my own."

Xanxus' throat moved as he swallowed and obeyed, stepping closer. His hand was warm when he set it against Tsuna's hip, warm and satisfyingly larger. "What…" he began, before trailing off.

"Slowly at first," Tsuna directed him, breathing faster as he felt the heat of Xanxus' body against his back and the first nudge of Xanxus cock against him. "Slowly—ah, yes, like that, _oh_…" He groaned, breathless, as Xanxus followed his instructions and pressed in. The hard, full stretch of it stole Tsuna's breath, and so did the open, hoarse way Xanxus gasped his name as he sank home. Tsuna braced himself against his hands as Xanxus' weight rested against his back, both of them panting against the first head-spinning rush of sensation, until Tsuna managed to say, "Now fuck me," and Xanxus complied.

Tsuna groaned, gasping open-mouthed with the sensation driving up his spine as Xanxus fucked him, slow and hard enough to rock him up onto his toes, intense enough that Tsuna knew he would feel it later in the ache of his muscles. He couldn't bring himself to care in this moment, not with the heat of Xanxus at his back and the building tide of pleasure lapping along his every nerve, heavy and hot. Xanxus dug his fingers into his hips, holding him for each thrust and groaning, hoarse against Tsuna's ear. The sound he made when Tsuna unclenched a hand from where he gripped the edge of the desk and laid it over Xanxus' hand wasn't quite a groan; Tsuna didn't know how to quantify it. "Touch me," he told Xanxus, guiding his hand to his cock. Xanxus did, curling his fingers around Tsuna. The calloused texture of them was unfamiliar and contrasted with the slow, firm way Xanxus stroked him. Tsuna groaned with the jolt of pleasure as it ran through him, feeling himself pulling taut with it, until Xanxus drove against him a little harder and it broke him apart. He cried out as he came, shaking with it and groaning as his body tried to wring down on the thickness of Xanxus' cock holding him open, every part of him burning with the fierceness of his pleasure.

Xanxus' groan stuttered on a curse, hoarse and profane, as he drove against Tsuna, the rhythm of his hips going fast and then jerky, shaking Tsuna with ragged bursts of sensation until Xanxus strained against him for an endless moment, his fingers tight enough to bruise Tsuna's hip, before he relaxed again, nearly sprawling against Tsuna and catching a hand on the desk as he gasped for breath. Tsuna let him, bearing up his weight even though every muscle in his body felt limp and trembling with the rush and aftermath of orgasm. He didn't move until Xanxus' breathing had begun to even out and turn normal again, and even then it was only to turn and twist himself to take advantage of how Xanxus' chin was resting against his shoulder and kiss him, slow enough to taste all the corners of Xanxus' mouth. Xanxus' eyes were almost startled, certainly dazed, even when Tsuna pulled back to smile at him, and remained so even as they separated and began to attend to the matter of cleaning up.

Tsuna thought that might be a good thing after all; he reached for Xanxus before that look could have a chance to leave his eyes, before Xanxus could begin dressing himself again and reassembling his usual armor against the world. "My own," he said, wrapping his arms around Xanxus and pulling him down for another kiss. When Xanxus responded by lifting his arms and settling them against Tsuna's back, however tentatively, Tsuna called that another victory and smiled against his mouth—it wasn't exactly post-coital snuggling, but it was a long way away from the way their previous encounters had ended, too. He kissed Xanxus slowly, sliding a hand up and down Xanxus' back. "That was lovely," he said when Xanxus' mouth was soft and his shoulders were relaxed under his palms. "Thank you for that."

Xanxus' response was to look at him—just look at him, as though he didn't know how to answer that. Given that it was Xanxus, it was possible that he didn't. At length he dipped his chin in something like a nod and grunted.

Good enough, Tsuna decided, philosophical about it, and claimed one more kiss before he released Xanxus to begin dressing again. But when they were decently clothed again and Xanxus seemed on the verge of walking out again without another word, he changed his mind. "Did you get everything you came here for?"

Xanxus went still; already some of his armor had closed around him again, as quickly as that. The look he gave Tsuna was wary, and probably more uncertain than he meant it to be. "Didn't come here for anything."

"Ah," Tsuna said. "My mistake." He leaned against his desk, more or less in the same posture Xanxus had been in at the very start of this encounter, and smiled at him. "Never mind then. If you do think of something you need, though, feel free to stop by any time, my own."

Xanxus didn't give any sign that he understood that offer for what it was, but he did give Tsuna a long look before grunting again and walking out. Tsuna supposed that was enough to be going on and smiled when he settled himself behind his desk (a bit gingerly, to be sure, now that Xanxus wasn't around to see and misinterpret it) and reached for the work he'd meant to be doing before Xanxus had disrupted his plans.

The interval before Hayato knocked and let himself in was barely decent. He had a question, he said, something about what Tsuna wanted done about the complaints that the Orsini had been making regarding their business with the Vongola. Tsuna gave him the same instructions he and Hayato had hammered out a week ago and watched Hayato pretend to write them down, waiting for him to come to his real purpose for this quick meeting.

Finally Hayato, as if having an afterthought, said, "I hadn't realized you had a meeting scheduled with Xanxus this afternoon."

"Oh, yes, that." Tsuna smiled at Hayato, whose attention to the notes spread across his knees did nothing to disguise the pen he was flipping across his knuckles. "He didn't have an appointment, exactly. He just stopped in."

Hayato looked up, frowning. "He just _stopped in_?"

Tsuna couldn't fault him for sounding incredulous. "Mm. Yes. We've been having something of a philosophical discussion. He stops by every time he wants to try a new argument."

Hayato opened his mouth but nothing came out. Finally he said, "I… right. That… I see. Of course. That… I suppose that makes sense." He closed his portfolio and stood. "I'll just be getting back to work, then."

He made it almost to the door before stopping, shaking his head, and looking back at Tsuna. "Tenth… was it just me, or did Xanxus have a hickey on his neck?"

Tsuna smiled at Hayato again. "Yes, I believe he did."

Several things moved across Hayato's face—disbelief, awe, and not a little respect—before he said, "…right. Just checking," and went on his way.

Tsuna waited until the door was closed after him to laugh, quiet and satisfied, before reaching for the next file and getting back to work.

**end**

As always, comments are a thing of joy forever!


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